Addressing Overcrowding in Corrections: Scaling Community Service Orders in Namibia Through Strategic Partnerships (PID278)

9.30am – 10am GMT, 29 October 2026 ‐ 30 mins

Room: Meeting Room 1A (Level 3)

Parallel Workshops

Community Service Orders is increasingly recognised across Africa as a diversionary sentencing mechanism aimed at reducing prison overcrowding and promoting non-custodial rehabilitation. In Namibia, Community Service Orders is anchored in Section 297(1) of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977, which grants courts discretionary authority to impose community service as an alternative to imprisonment, except in cases involving mandatory minimum sentences. However, the discretionary nature of the provision has resulted in inconsistent application, limiting the diversion of suitable non-serious offenders and contributing to continued custodial pressures, overcrowding risks, and increased correctional expenditure.

The paper focuses on strategic partnerships the Namibian Correctional Service undertook as a means to promote the use of Community Service Orders with critical stakeholders such as the Office of the Judiciary, the Office of the Prosecutor-General, The Namibian Police Force and other government ministries. This initiative, which was first piloted in 2006 and the fully implemented in 2010 has seen an effective use of Community Service Orders in the country, with statistics on successful completion rates, as well as the role the scheme has played in contributing to manageable prison populations in Namibia, demonstrating the approach as a viable one worth emulating in other jurisdictions.

Speakers

Boitumelo Araes

Divisional Head: Community Service Orders, Namibian Correctional Service, Namibia

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Boitumelo Araes

Divisional Head: Community Service Orders, Namibian Correctional Service, Namibia

Mrs. Boitumelo Araes is the Head of the Community Service Orders Division of the Namibian Correctional Service. She is a correctional officer chairing the National Steering Committee for Community Service Orders in Namibia and oversees the national implementation of Community Service Orders. She hold a qualification in Clinical Psychology and has extensive experience in offender case management, rehabilitation, and community corrections. Her professional interests include non-custodial sentencing, offender reintegration, and strengthening community-based correctional interventions in Namibia.